Usually people’s business was their own. Jace didn’t get involved unless someone pulled him into it. It happened once or twice, even being a bartender at the end of the world meant he got a share of people coming in to bend his ear with their sorrows and ask for his sage advice. Though, anyone who took any of his advice seriously probably deserved whatever stupidity befell them in the first place. The people that didn’t talk at him were usually the ones he was most curious about, since they never said a word.
Miah was one of those people. It was written all over his body language that something was up, even Jace could tell that and he barely knew the guy. But, he busied himself cleaning up behind the bar, being extra careful with the bottles. The tea whatever that Rae had made had helped with the twinges, but he still didn’t want to risk it. Even with a moonshiner in the compound liquor was precious; there was no way he was going to waste it by being a klutz.
When Miah beckoned him over, he went with a grin, leaning both elbows on the bar, trying to figure out if he could read anything of what was going on in the man’s face. “So you’re doing your set wasted, huh?” he asked, pouring a glass for Miah and passing it across the bar. “Daring choice, man. Real daring.” He usually liked when Miah decided to come play a set, it was better than playing cds all the time, or trying to get the finicky iPod dock to work for more than two minutes at a time.
But wasted musicians rarely performed well, so if Miah planned to get up there tonight chances were good that it could be a train wreck. Not really a losing situation though, since drunk people could also be funny as hell. There were definitely perks to the bartender gig.
Only thing that would make the night better was if Kaija were around. The woman was one of few who made anything about a million times better just by being there. “Want me to record it on my phone for posterity and shit?”